Shedding crocodile tears through a veil of hypocrisy, Mort’s editorial-page lackies editorialize, “Paterson’s likability and hopes that he would lift New York out of the Eliot Spitzer’s wreckage make calling for his departure painful.”

The Post was typically blunt, with no hint of that kind of bullshit: “David Paterson is not qualified to be governor of New York. And he can spare the state he has sworn to serve a lot of unnecessary turmoil and pain by simply stepping aside. Without further delay.”

The Times‘s own editorial this morning, “Questions for Gov. Paterson,” is predictably pecksniffian, ending with this: “Weary New Yorkers, who must be wondering if anyone in Albany can be trusted, will be watching closely.”